Undeath
Undeath is a state of being between living and dead that is capable of affecting most life forms on Pangaera. A living creature has a concentration of aether greater than the space around it, and when it dies, its aether will begin to slowly dissipate from its body. With no living force containing it, the naturally occurring corruption within the world can begin infecting it. Depending on local factors, usually the inherent amount of corrupted aether in the area, this process will occur naturally within three to seven days. When a being becomes undead, any decay it has undergone is slowed to a minimum. The corrupted aether animates it in the same way its living aether did before, however sometimes, such as in the case of certain plant matters, it can move more than the living had been capable. The behavior of undead vary, the most rudimentary seem little more capable than seeking out other life and attempting to kill it. Undead of more sentient beings often will carry over some behaviors left from living, such as a cat's ability to climb and balance, or dogs howling at distant sounds. The less rotted the dead was, the more likely it can retain some living behaviors. In the cases of some mortals, usually when turned intentionally, one can even retain consciousness and memory. Various methods over time have developed for removing or preventing undead from occurring, the most prominent of which being the burning of freshly dead. A burned corpse will not turn, and if an undead is set to flame its aether will leech from it rapidly, rendering it inanimate. Origin and History During the Cataclysm, Kerrakulpa first encountered and confronted Suma as the land was breaking apart. The violent event caused intermingling of his aether with hers and left a permanent mark in the aether of the world. Since the end of the first age, this corrupted wellspring has spread influence across the entire planet and made undeath a natural occurrence. Impact on Nature As the infection of undeath became natural, it had serious effects on nature across the planet. A surge of undead animals and plants took a major toll on the world during the second age, made worse by the burgeoning rise of Aberros and his corrupted orc armies. During this time, numerous divines took form against them, some of whom had returned from the apparent exodus caused at the end of the Cataclysm. As the war carried on, many animals developed their own responses to the corruption to mitigate its spread. In the Theogeny it is speculated that Talgar had much to do with this influence, taking umbrage with his new foes in Gormihaagos and Aberros. Social animals such as wild dogs would break the bones of their dead and drag them to the territories of predators or carrion eaters. Carrion eaters slowly became immune to the corruption entirely. Some insects such as ants would dismember their dead and leave them in broken pits to feed fungus or livestock insects. All fungal life shared an immunity to the corruption as well. Many plants hardened their aether against it and rotted too quickly to be animated. Rarer examples include dune worms, which dissolve into sand when dead, making corruption impossible, or corpseblooms, vine plants with pods that explode when exposed to corrupting aether, sending silky seeds across the wind and wilting suddenly. Culture Mortal kin races and cultures developed numerous methods shared both by practicality and religious rite. Some cultures feed the remains to kept carrion birds, or raised insect colonies, but by far the most prominent method for dealing with the dead is by burning. The methods and rituals vary across different regions, but the ultimate purpose is still to burn. Most cultures and nations revile undeath due to its violent reaction to the living, however some nations over time accepted or even embraced the existence of the ever present corrupted aether. In the fourth age, a city state in Gielen called Westford, underwent a regime change with a council of wizards at its head. This council kept itself in power with careful economic control and used the city's resources to fund a surge in magical research, with necromancy as its primary focus. While the actual use of undead is almost nonexistent, the council dedicated much of their knowledge to economic power in what eventually became an attempt to rediscover the lost knowledge of previous ages of necromantic research. The general populace there does not consider necromancy to be profane despite its neighboring proximity to the ancient province of Farsied, whose history is steeped in religious culture and divine influence, and wholly opposes undeath and necromancy. Religion and Divinity The impact of corruption and undeath permeated every aspect of Pangaera, even on the level of the divine. The first example of this is in Aethra, who developed alongside sapient undead. Early wizards who would now be referred to as necromancers (or thaumaturges) would take to attempting to control the corrupted aether in the same manner as the living, to varying success. Aethra, a goddess of undeath and balance, arose from what was considered at the time a noble attempt to coexist with the inevitable force that now permeated the landscape. While her efforts made some progress, it was ultimately a detriment. The nature of undead allowed their numbers to grow unchecked under her influence, and shortsighted mortals abused her knowledge to gain power in armies that were nigh indestructible. This seemed to influence the return of Annodine, a goddess of undeath, war, and fire. Her domain became the eradication of the dead, and shared knowledge of fire for defeating them. Her "pawns" as they were called, served one ultimate purpose, the eradication of undead. Eventually, as her scriptures describe, she followed the uprising to a land so violently overrun with the dead that she scorched entire swathes of verdant land into a desert wasteland before disappearing, as since the cataclysm, divines that still walked the land or rose afterwords would disappear at random, often never to return. Since this time ages have seen the rise of other divines related to undeath. Akutam, a goddess of slavery, undeath, and domination, rose in power from what is speculated to have once been a mortal woman. She spent a lifetime into research of undeath, and was once an adherent of Aethra. She eventually discovered a way to unnaturally prolong her life through the corrupted aether, and is considered to be the first lich in history. Much of her research was compiled in a series of dense tomes and notebooks, the recovery of which is a paramount tenet of her worshipers. While she disappeared between the second and third ages of deeds, some of what she left behind was discovered in a melting glacier that capped the region of Treitic during the third age. In Treitic, Dominix, a human supremacist, coalesced soon after this time. Her domain and scripture promised her followers an eternal life as divine dead, an army of perfect immortal humans. With a combination of combined knowledge from Aethra and Akutam further developed, Dominix is described as having a perfect balance of living and corrupted aether. Her followers are exceedingly xenophobic, and use the undead as eternal warriors to execute dissenters and other races with the ultimate goal of eradicating all but humans from the world. Her theocracy is violently opposed by many, but Annodine's pawns hold a eternal grudge against her as well as all who either use or are undead.. Necromancy As divines and cultures developed around the existence of this corruption, so to did the study of magic involving this unique aether. Over time, this magic became a study in its own right, and met with various responses. Necromancy is, by definition, not the control of or over dead, but magic performed with corrupted aether as a catalyst. This magic frequently involves death due to this association, however, and necromancy is heavily reviled by most cultures. Knowledge into necromancy is capable of producing unique forms of undead. For example, the lich is created using a series of spells on a still living subject that forcibly replaces their living aether soul with corrupted aether, and stores the living aether in a separate container or device, achieving a crude form of magical immortality. Reavers are created by a ritual involving the blood of dragons to create a sapient living dead that combines living and corrupted aether to produce a creature that does not age and can subsist on raw flesh and blood. The most prominent use of this methodology however is still to animate the dead, for as many purposes as can be conceived.